Finals Checklist

On Sunday, May 5th, please make sure you have the following items turned into the server. For each project, you should turn in two folders: (1) Your toonboom harmony and storyboard folders so I can check the art itself and (2) renders, photographs, or scanned in images of any other content you have created. I have created a FINALS folder on the server with a clear example for how you should save everything. Below is the same information, listed for your convenience.

Proper naming conventions for your folders are also listed. Remember to convert all videos! (open your movie after exporting it, and re-save the file).

Project 1: Your Lip-sync Project

• p1_designs (designs for your lip sync character)
• p1_projectfiles (project files for your animation)
• lastname_lipsync_animatic.mov 
• lastname_lipsync_final.mov
• p1_referencematerials (any references you shot or recorded for the project)

Project 2: Your Special Effects Project

• p2_designs (design materials for your special effects project)
• p2_projectfiles (project files for your animation)
• lastname_finalFXmovie.mov (the final movie of your animation)

Project 3: Thumbnails for your short film.

• p3_thumbnail_drawings (all thumbnail drawings you have created for early samples of your film)

Project 4: Preproduction materials for your short film.

• p4_animatic (animatic for your film, created in toon boom storyboard pro)
• p4_conceptart (any and all concept art for your film including...)
• character designs (model sheets for your characters)
• environment designs (locations for the action)
• prop design (important items used by your characters)
• p4_storyboard_PDF
• a 3-panel horizontal (minimum) storyboard PDF file of your film, including all action notes.

Project 5: Production materials for your short animated film.

• p5_individual_scenes (individual final movies for each scene of your film)
• p5_project_files (project files for each scene)

Project 6: Editing and Postproduction for your film (including your Final Cut)

• p6_finalFilm
• p6_PremiereFiles (any files you used to edit your movie together, can include after effects scenes)

P7: Extra credit: Any 6+ second sequences you have created in your spare time.

• each file should be named [lastname_nameOfActionInScene]

This week: Finalizing our Preproduction and Moving on to Animation!

From this point, everyone will adopt a different timeline for their respective projects! We will go through a check making sure people have the following contents:

• Quality Character Design Samples
• A Great Animatic
• Clear Storyboards
• and Interesting Environments!

Don't start animating until you have each of these things! The development process is something you need to learn and understand fully! I will do my best to communicate the nuances of animation production to you in the following days!

For Wednesday:  Bring in any reference materials you need to either

A: draw environment drawings

or

B: Start animating your characters!

Also, Check out the AN225 Server folder. I have dropped in a video file called "The Making of Little Witch Academia."  The movie is 45 minutes. Watch it so we can talk about it next class!

Notes from class today:
Today, we did a storytelling exercise with a card game called Joking Hazard, where you could pull cards from your hand to make interesting stories!  This game, as we mentioned today and we will show Wednesday, is a great way to see what the animation process is like!

Notes from class are below:

Class Cancelled

Hey Class!  I got unlucky with the changing weather. 

On the bright side, I should be better in time for Wednesday.  I know, in your respective class, we're continuing a big project we're working on. For now, consider today to be a day where you have a little extra time to wrap up any progress you were making on your projects over spring break. Wednesday will be a day where I'll review everything you've worked on so far, and help steer you in the right direction for what comes next.

Tuesday, (instead of today,) I'll drop information across all class blogs for you, just to help prepare for the following next steps of our projects:

AN225: Layout and Character Animation.

AN310: 3D Batch Rendering and Filming with Manual 3-D Cameras

AN299: Mastering Audio, Non-Linear Editing, Mastering, and Distribution

Apologies for not being able to see how refreshed everyone is after spring break! I look forward to seeing all of you again soon!

~Shaw

Notes for today, and Homework for Monday, March 18, 2019

“HOW TO DO THINGS THE WAY YOU WANT TO DO THEM (career, art, skills, etc.)”

• 1. Find and know your heroes and heroines (the people that have made the art you want to make).
• Resources:
• Tumblr
• Facebook
• Youtube, and other video sites.
• Bechance
• LinkedIn! - A great way to see official artists CURRENTLY WORKING in positions you are interested in!
• 2. Find a visual language (style) for your film that gives you both the time and “look” you want to develop in your own artwork!
• Don’t JUST look for a look that only looks great, or a look that is “easy enough to do.” Find a balance between both methods!
• If you stick to what you already know how to do (how you currently draw, or paint or color, etc.)  You will create the elements you know how to create well, but anything outside your skill set will be heavily difficult for you to do, and you will probably ignore trying to get better because you are in your “COMFORT ZONE.”
• 3. Keep it as simple as you can!
• SERIOUSLY.
• A “strong” idea is not necessarily always a “complex” one. It can also be a streamlined thought executed at a high level, or a tiny idea that is spoken in a way that the MAXIMUM number of people understand it.

ASSIGNMENT FOR MARCH 18th, 2019

• Come to class with the following:
• A FULLY developed storyboard in Storyboard Pro. Export a PDF of your storyboards!
• A FULLY developed animatic from storyboard pro. Export a movie file of your animatic!
• CHARACTER designs including
• model sheets
• sheets of facial expressions and character poses of your character doing “stuff”
• environment designs of the places your characters WILL be in your film
• Color your model sheets and designs! Your animatic can be black and white with greyscale shadow in areas. (refer to the examples on the blog)
• Remember I have added a Resources folder on the server that contains items that will help you on your preproduction journey!

Homework for Monday, March 4th

Develop the animatic of your chosen story! Bring the completed animatic to class. Be sure to start by implementing the drawings you have already created before adding new ones. Remember to flesh out the actions of your story!

If you want to go ahead, take care of parts of your animatic in this order.

• Integrate your thumbnails.
• Time your animatic in a rough sense with thumbnails only.
• Start adding drawings to flesh out the action within.
• Time your animatic again. Each time you do, you will improve the flow and pacing of your story.
• Extra note: Keep your animatic within the 30 second time frame.
• At this stage, you will probably see some stuff you can take out. Be willing to remove elements of your story that don't work as well.
• Once you like the art, start adding camera angles.
• remember to draw arrows on panels to indicate important movements from one panel to another!
• Once done, make a 960x540 movie and bring your thumbnails from sticky notes and index cards, your storyboard pro project files and your animatic to class!

TIP: Look for finished storyboards online to get a good idea of what makes a "quality" animatic sequence!

Example below: Spongebob Squarepants

Example Below:  Batman The Animated Series



Example Below: Avatar: Legend of Korra - Pro Bending Competition




This is a good example of how you can integrate 3D models, photographs, and other elements into your animatic!  Using outside sources can speed up the process of producing something clear and easy to understand for audiences!



Example: Gravity Falls





Example: Adventure Time

Motivational Comic: "Be friends with Failure," and "Fun Gets Done"

https://doodlealley.com/2013/10/28/fun-gets-done/

https://doodlealley.com/2012/10/10/be-friends-with-failure/

For Wednesday: Continue taking notes on your story ideas! Continue making changes and updating your stories based on the exercise we used in the previous post! On Wednesday, we will start class choosing one of our stories to adapt for our films.  We will also talk advanced scheduling, and build some calendars to target each part of our film in a reasonable, manageable, creatively fulfilling way!

In short: LIFE SKILLS, YO!

Make notes of the following:

• Strengths of the film.
• Weakness of the film.
• Strategies you have to complete the film in a month!
• Strengths of your artistry with respects to the film.
• Weaknesses you want to work on.

Questions you have to develop your weaknesses while building on your strengths?

Notes of Story Development and editing

STORYTELLING NOTES:

• Name
• Date
• Tentative Titles of your Three Stories
• Brief synopsis of the stories themselves:
• Who is the story about?
• What is the problem/challenge the character faces?
• How does it end? (if you are still not sure about your stories, starting at the ending and working backwards is a great idea!
• Who, from class, did you talk with about your stories? (At least 2 people)
• What feedback did you receive?
• What was the strongest and most successful part of each story?
• What was the weakest?
• What solutions were offered?
• What changes did you make to your stories? What new material have you brought to class?

If you were absent, add the following notes to your sketchbook, and complete the exercise below!  It should take about an hour to an hour and a half. Once finished, use this method to improve all of your stories!

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CONSIDERATIONS: "How to write a better animated story!"
Before you edit your story, you should consider these five things:

• 1.  Feasibility: Can it be done?  Number of characters, environments, etc.
• New Term: "Character seconds:"  The number of actual seconds of animation you produce in a film, per character.
• If you are animating a 30 second story, and there are 2 characters on screen the whole time, you are actually creating 60 seconds of animation! (30 seconds per character!)
• 2. Great Examples of Character Animation!
• Your portfolio will need samples of characters acting on screen, with clearly defined movement.  It serves as the foundation of any good, competitive animation portfolio!
• The thing we remember most about our animated 
• 3. Is it Interesting? Why?
• What makes the story interesting to you?  To other people? If your story has some element that generates intrigue, or curiosity in the audience, you're on your way to making an interesting film!
• 4. Does the story have a clearly defined ending?
• Amazing films have been completely destroyed by a muddy ending. You should resolve your conflicts, resolve the problem, and let us know what happens in the end!
• 5. Be able to answer these three questions about your story:
• Who is it about?
• What is the problem the character faces?
• How does it end?
• Does the character succeed? Fail?
• If you are not sure about what to do with your film, starting with the ending and working backwards is a great place to start!
• 6. REMEMBER: Great writing is constructed.
• Great stories are built over time! KEEP WHAT WORKS and GET RID OF THE REST!
• As an animator, the best advice I can give you is to "be willing to throw away a drawing at any time!" Making new drawings and improving incrementally is part of the process!
• 7. As a final note: If you are ever not sure about a storytelling decision, pick something, anything, and just go with it.  You will learn more by trying out a strange idea than you would waiting for the perfect idea to come.

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 Workshop:  STORY EDITING FOR ANIMATION:

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In your story: 

Find a portion of the story you know works well.

• write down: Why does ________ work? / Why do “I” like _______?
• mark them with a star!

Next, write down this question (or a question like it): What qualities do I have in panel/sequence “______” that is missing in my other panels?

• can refer to anything
• story devices, cinematography, art, characterization, audience reaction, anything.

In about 4 minutes: make a list of every change you would make to your story to make every panel share the same level of quality.
Select the two brainstormed ideas you think will be most successful.

• underline them, highlight them, put a star next to them, try anything.

Using two index cards, (or a number of them for future projects), make a change to two sections of your story to improve the whole film.

• use the two brainstormed ideas you underlined in your notes!
• use one card for each idea!
• make two changes to your film, and then review the whole story!
• Draw a new panel for that shot. Replace the old one. Don’t worry if the film is not 100% better. We’re looking for INCREMENTAL growth! Great works of art and cinema are built over time, not all at once!

Take 15-25 minutes to improve your stories!

• This should help you better flesh out your stories, and start to develop a sense of which ones you really like, and which ones you want to change.

Next: Split into two groups of 2! (if you were absent, contact a classmate by facebook, email, or some other method!)

• Person A: Give a brief synopsis of the story. Pitch! Be active in your speech and acting!
• Mention the biggest problem you currently face with the story (what is working the least?) Ask Person B about possible solutions!
• Person B: Offer solutions first. Then, make note of anything that is currently working well in each story, and any other constructive comments you may have.
• Switch!

Next step: Take 3-4 minutes to brainstorm some ideas you have about “DEVELOPING THE VISUALS” of your film?

• Designs you would like to try?
• Shot choices you are unsure about.
• Drawing skills you would like to develop.
• Drawing skills you would like to refine.
• Things about the design you think are missing from your film!

Share ideas with each other about strategies to apply to your stories!

• Include any websites or references, other films or sequences to look at, etc.

After everyone has shared visuals, share any other thoughts you have about your film ideas and your stories!

• The point of this class is to develop a process to direct yourself and figure out solutions to your own problems.  The biggest hang-up any film-maker has during the movie-making process is making decisions! The better you can make decisions, the easier it is to improve as an artist, animator, and film-maker! =D

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Once you have completed this, you may begin to see why this exercise is important.  It trains you to be self-sufficient in developing your specific ideas, while keeping you focused on the big picture of each story!  It helps you articulate your challenges and successes! It also helps you stay open-minded about making new decisions.  

We are always more confident about helping others than we are with helping ourselves.  By the end of the semester, I hope each of you can gain some extra confidence in your animating and art-making abilities! =D

If you are uncertain about the length of your story, scan your drawings, import them into storyboard pro, and take 30 minutes to make a short animatic of your 12 panels!

If you have any questions about this exercise, please let me know!